Curb fireworks

The problem I'm having is the public is buying the fireworks and blowing them off in there backyard with no regards for their neighbors at 3 a.m. with the music loud. I'm not going out there to argue with the neighbors, I have to live next to them. What happens if one of those firecrackers lands on a screen or roof and starts a fire, who's responsible?

I suggest curbing this situation and let the city take control of the celebration.

Enemy us

One of my proudest moments as an American was when President Reagan, staring into East Berlin, spoke at the Brandenburg Gate, "Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall." Now a president holds hostage thousands of hardworking federal employees demanding that all Americans pay for a wall that the majority don't want to see built.

Perhaps we as a society have created this impasse. Those from the right and the left should face each other across the seemingly impenetrable wall they have created between themselves and declare "yes, we have seen the enemy and he is us."

Edward Sessa, Sanibel

Only hope

I applaud Mr. Kalfus for his Jan. 5 letter to The News-Press reminding readers of the citrus canker fiasco that resulted in the destruction of 33,957 healthy citrus trees in Lee County in 2003, and the failure of the government to compensate those 11,811 homeowners whose trees were destroyed.

I would like to add the following:

The Legislature included the payment of $16.4 million to the homeowners in the May, 2017 budget, the amount awarded in a jury trial on July 3, 2014. Then Gov. Rick Scott vetoed that line item, possibly on the advice of then Secretary of Agriculture Adam Putnam, citing on-going litigation, which wasn’t true.

The litigation was over, the jury had spoken and after 10 years the homeowners were to be compensated. That was 4½ years ago and each day that $16.4 million increases by about $2,000 a day in interest.

We now have a new governor and a new secretary of agriculture who hopefully will obey the Constitution that guarantees full compensation when the state takes private property for public purposes. After nearly 16 years will the Lee County homeowners finally be paid? We can only hope.

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Florida Voices tells the stories of everyday Floridians, examining what issues matter most to them in the Sunshine State.

Earn it

More equality whining? Were your fellow-students equal in school – in avoiding bad habits and evil intentions – in developing equal life skills and constructive attitudes? Equality of income is not unusual in the third world. There, with the exception of the top elite, equality means equality in poverty.

Only democratic capitalism provides upward mobility, as Asian countries are now proving. What’s more, in the U.S. we are in fact very equal if you think about it properly. In times past, the rich were obvious – they wore boots and clean clothes. They were well-fed. They had horses and servants. Today, Bill Gates wears jeans. He admits he lives in four or five rooms of his $250 million house. He eats three meals a day and watches one TV at a time, just like the rest of us. You might not recognize him on the street.

And where does his money go? You already know … investments that benefit the country. Do we really want income distribution for equality? Haven’t we learned from watching those who fell into unearned windfalls but ended up losers? The real lesson is this – money gravitates to where it belongs. If you want more, in America you can earn it.